When you make conversations with your child, you can ask her
several wonder questions, for example, when you see the sunset, ask her ‘I
wonder where the sun goes’, or when you are walking up a slope, ask her ‘I
wonder why it is harder to go up the slope and easier to go down’, or when it
rains, ask her ‘I wonder where the rain comes from’. Ask her these questions
when you see it in the environment with her and not out of context.
Of course you know the answers to most of the workings of
the world, but don’t start to explain it to your child or provide readymade
answers. The wonder questions here have a very important role to play. They draw
your child’s attention to things, arouse and develop her curiosity and make it the
habit of her mind to give everything a thought which later on helps her get the
answers herself.
When you ask a question like ‘I wonder where the sun goes’,
just wait for a few minutes and hear the explanation your child has to give. Of
course your very young child won’t have the right explanation but enjoy the
logic of her young and developing mind! She might say and she will say it confidently
‘It goes down in the sea’, ‘It mixes
with the sky and disappears’, etc. At this point please don’t say ‘It doesn’t
make sense’, ‘How can it be’ and other statements of this kind. Simply say,
‘Hmm, interesting’ and please leave it at that. I know it’s hard to leave it at
that, but do so as you don’t want to spoil the joy of learning and discovery when
your child comes across this information while reading a book, learning in
school, etc. She will then connect back to the wonder question she had thought about
in the past.
Refrain from making your child a storehouse of information.
Focus more on inquiry-based learning, which is by far superior as it develops inquisitiveness,
research skills, thinking skills and joyful and lifelong independent learning.
If your child is interested in finding out facts, refer to books
and Internet alongside her and help her find answers. You can also tell her
what you know and support it with videos and books. Don’t forget to be excited
about it- you will pass on your enthusiasm to her which will stay with her in years to come.
